• Afghan govt pledges to investigate DI Khan terrorist attack.
• FO welcomes UNSC’s condolences on December 12 terror attack.
• Pakistan not engaging in dialogue with TTP or any “third country”.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has urged the Taliban-led interim government of Afghanistan to take “strong action” against militants involved in the December 12 terror attack on security forces in Dera Ismail (DI) Khan district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

“We have noted the Afghan interim government statement that it will investigate the terrorist attack of December 12,” Foreign Office Spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said while addressing a weekly press conference in Islamabad on Thursday.

Earlier this week, at least 23 soldiers embraced martyrdom when militants rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into a Pakistani military base, the army said, in an attack claimed by affiliates of the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), The News reported.

“In early hours of December 12, 2023, a group of six terrorists attacked a security forces post in the Daraban area of Dera Ismail Khan. The attempt to enter the post was effectively thwarted, which forced the terrorists to ram an explosive-laden vehicle into the post, followed by a suicide bombing attack. The resulting blasts led to the collapse of the building, causing multiple casualties; twenty-three brave soldiers embraced shahadat, while all six terrorists were effectively engaged and sent to hell,” the Inter- Services Public Relations (ISPR) stated in a statement. 

A little-known militant group, Tehreek-e-Jihad-e-Pakistan (TJP), had claimed responsibility for one of the deadliest attacks on Pakistani security forces.

At the press briefing today, the FO spokesperson said: “Afghanistan must take strong action against perpetrators of this heinous attack and hand them over to Pakistan along with the TTP leadership in Afghanistan.” 

The FO spokesperson went on to say that Pakistan also expected the Afghan government to “take concrete and verifiable steps to prevent the use of Afghan soil by terrorist entities”.

Mumtaz also welcomed the United Nations Security Council’s (UNSC) messages of sympathy and condolences on the attack.

“They have also recalled that TTP, to which TJP is affiliated, is listed by the UNSC to the ISIL (Da’esh) and Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee,” she said.

According to Baloch, the UNSC members emphasised the necessity of prosecuting the attack’s planners, financiers, and perpetrators.

“They have also urged all states to cooperate actively with the Government of Pakistan as well as all relevant authorities in this regard,” she added.

In response to a question, the FO spokesperson said Pakistan was not engaging in dialogue with the TTP neither were talks being held in any “third country”.

“Pakistan strongly rejects any such reports,” she asserted.

In response to the terror attack, the FO demarched Afghan Charge d’Affaires Sardar Ahmad Shakib and issued a statement demanding prompt, verifiable action from the Afghan government against militant groups promoting terror in Pakistan.

The Afghan interim government responded to the demarche on Wednesday saying that they were “shocked at the attack in Pakistan” and pledged to look into the terror incident and requesting that Islamabad desist from holding Kabul responsible for all issues.